"An aged and God-fearing Christian aunt left it to me," said Pence, dropping his eyes. "It is a small sum, but----" "One hundred pounds in gold, perhaps?" Pence rose, as though moved by springs, and his thin white cheeks flushed a deep scarlet. "What do you mean?" Bella could not have told herself what she meant at the moment. But it had suddenly occurred to her to try and rid herself of this burr by hinting that he had something to do with the robbery, if not with the murder. Under ordinary circumstances she would never have ventured to do this, being a kind-hearted girl; but Pence exasperated her so greatly that she was, on the impulse of the moment, prepared to go to any length to see the last of him. "I mean," she said, in reply to his last question, "that my father had one hundred pounds in gold in his safe." "You accuse me of----" "I accuse you of nothing," cried Bella, cutting him short and flaming up into a royal rage. "I am tired of your company and of your silly talk. I only wish that Mr. Lister would come along and throw you into the channel." The red faded from Pence's face, and he looked wickedly white. His eyes flashed with sinister lights. "I dare say you do," he said venomously, "but Mr. Lister had better keep out of my way, and out of the way of the police." The girl felt her heart almost stop beating. "Now it is my turn to ask you what you mean?" she said slowly and preserving her coolness. But the preacher saw that she was shaken, and followed up his advantage. "I think you had better make terms with me. Accept me as your husband, or----" "Or what?" "I shall tell the police what I saw," he finished spitefully. "What did you see?" she asked in a shaking voice. "On the evening of the murder I came here at a quarter to eight," said Silas slowly, his glittering eyes on her pale face. "I wished to adore the shrine wherein was my jewel; that is, I desired to gaze on the house, beneath whose roof you slept." "Oh, stop talking like this, and speak plainly," she interrupted wearily. "I shall speak plainly enough now," said the young man calmly. "While watching by the entrance through the bushes, on the other side of the channel, I was suddenly brushed aside by that Lister person. It was growing dark, but I recognised his figure, his insolent face, his lordly air of prosperity. He walked up to the house and I turned away, sick at heart, knowing that he had gone to see you. When I looked again, on my way back to Marshely, he had disappeared. So you see----" He paused. "I see what?" she questioned nervously. "That the Lister person must know somewhat of this crime, if, indeed, he did not strike the blow himself." "How can you say that, when you lately intimated that Mr. Lister--if it _was_ Mr. Lister, which I doubt--had come to see me?"